Cowboy Bebop Live-Action Series Announced

According to Deadline, an American, Live-Action series of the anime classic, Cowboy Bebop, is being produced by the hot new production company, Tomorrow Studios. The studio is currently in development of two other strong IPs that it’s turning into series(2013’s Snowpiercer and 2008’s Let The Right One In) and will be adding this into it’s upcoming projects. The anime’s original studio, Sunrise, has given it’s blessing and will be moving forward. Chris Yost(Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok, Logan) will be writing the adaptation.

Marty Adelstein, producer of Hanna, Prison Break & Last Man Standing, created Tomorrow Studios as a joint venture with ITV Studios to pursue new projects and will be overseeing Cowboy Bebop as well.

“We are excited to work with Sunrise in bringing this beloved anime to the U.S. and global marketplace as a live-action series,” said Adelstein. “The animated version has long resonated with audiences worldwide, and with the continued, ever growing, popularity of anime, we believe a live action version will have an incredible impact today.”

Personally, I rank this series next to The Wire in terms of intelligence, plotting, art and overall quality and it my favorite television show ever made(partially due to it being inspired by the characters/cast of my favorite film ever made, The Castle of Cogliostro). On paper, this show was almost 100% designed to be in live-action (and quite arguably, even American). But, the question of this team will have the overall style and flexibility that makes this series the classic that it is will be important. Everything from the clothing every character, the history of the environments they visit and how it effects the supporting cast and how each character’s style represent their own genre of music(Spike = Acid Jazz, Jett = Blues, Ed = Techno, etc.) all the way down to episodic characters… This project is special and has the potential to be better than anything we’ve seen on television.

With the support of Sunrise, I have hope. But, I’ll be happier knowing Shinichiro Watanabe, Yoko Kanno or even The Seatbelts have some level of involvement in the adaptation of what is genuinely a masterpiece. If the cool vibe and post-modern smoothness like this must be captured:

I’ll be here hoping for the best. Until then,

See You Soon, Space Cowboy.

How do you feel about a live-action adaptation? Let us know in the comments or on @FanBrosShow